Exorcist II: The Heretic

Synopsis

Four years after her bout of demonic possession, Regan MacNeil seems at peace. But her doctor and Father Lamont, a protégé of the priest who died exorcising Regan, suspect the demon still has a hold on Regan…

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By no means a masterpiece but admirably bizarre and also misunderstood. Boorman is a filmmaker whose attitude and eccentricity are extensions of his artistry. He helmed the sequel to a major film that he hated as an excuse to make an absurd drama about metaphysics and hypnosis. I laugh while imagining Exorcist fans sitting in the theater, totally baffled / pissed. No one has the balls to do something like this today.

A major train wreck that is still immensly enjoyable...Richard Burton may very well be sleepwalking and that's fascinating in itself. Blair is dull & proves she was not an actress to begin with. One does hope that Louise Fletcher fired whichever adviser recommended this as her follow-up to ...Cuckoo's Nest.

"Once the demon is driven out, what's to stop it from coming back in"
"I don't know. But it never seems to happen. No, never"
Father Karras and Father Merrin in the book of The Exorcist.
The Heretic is insolent enough to differ

A counter rather than a continuation, this film does not seek to shock, disgust or disturb. Free of the sadomasochism of much of the horror genre, including its proto-torture-porn predecessor, this is an expansive and densely peopled film that supports cooperation over conflict and refuses to celebrate death. Gorgeous and warm-hearted, it's sad that most are too close-minded to accept films made by and for heretics.

What's ridiculous about it (the campy thud of the dialogue and its delivery; the performances on the whole; the leaden yet nonsensical "plot") never meshes with what's sublime (the inventive artifice of many effects and much mise-en-scène; Morricone's music; some of the framings, movements, and lighting that add up to a deliriously riveting, DePalma-esque quality), but the latter makes it worth seeing at least once.

I feel like crying tears of joy that this sequel made it to wide release theaters 36 years ago with all of these different (yet compatible) personalities swimming inside. I think that I'm in love. I knew that I'd like it beforehand. I didn't know why, nor could I have expected how. This film feels possessed, its demons within pushing this way and that, to a dreamy but logical conclusion. Yes, I said logical.

You can watch this as a bad movie -- and it certainly IS ridiculous -- but there's a lot to like about it. The two best elements are the stunning score by Ennio Morricone and the gorgeous cinematography. No, it's nothing like the original. Exorcist II is pure eye and ear candy without anything of substance to stimulate you, but that's okay. Trash can be good!

A really gifted director with a unique vision and deeply sincere to booth made this junk of a film. Of course, every sequel to the greatest horror film ever made is subject to that kind of heat. Still, an interesting film on its own, kind of like Halloween: Season of the witch.
The tap dancing sequence is legendary.